


Mercy

by valinorbound



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Angst, Episode: s02ep04 Meat, Flashbacks, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:02:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23143618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valinorbound/pseuds/valinorbound
Summary: It sounds a little different than it did back then.(Someone on Tumblr wanted to see the space whale again. I wrote some angst.)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 47





	Mercy

**Author's Note:**

> In which Jack travels with Thirteen and the fam, with no explanation, as per usual.

Maybe it’s _that one_. 

Maybe it’s not.

Regardless of whether he’s already seen it, the deep cries of the creature above send something straight to Jack’s chest. It’s as if he knows it before he can put a name to the sound; it floods the air and he’s plummeting back to Cardiff, the thick taste of copper on the back of his throat and his boots slipping on a blood-soaked floor. 

“Look up,” the Doctor says, dragging his mind to the present. He turns to face her as she grins up at the sky. “Very rare, this one. Barely a thousand left.”

It’s big enough to block out the sun. 

He feels Yaz grasp his sleeve as the creature plunges them into darkness, its shadow spanning the whole section of the forest they’re standing in. It floats just above the canopy, in amongst clouds of humidity from the morning rain.

_Space whale._

“Woah.” That’s Ryan. 

“Yeah.”

 _It’s singing,_ he wants to say, but his voice won’t let him.

Jack swallows. He can’t make out how big it is from here, let alone compare it to the one on Earth. For a moment, he lets himself wonder what will become of it; will it fly into the wrong part of the forest one day, just in time to be engulfed by golden light? Find itself in the Bristol Channel? Dragged ashore and chained to the ground- 

“My, God,” Graham says. “Wouldn’t want that thing to land on us, eh?” 

“Look at the _size_ of it.” Yaz is smiling, and Jack envies her. Maybe in another universe, he could experience this for what it is, without the lump in his throat and the phantom blood on his hands. 

_(It doesn’t help that he hears Gwen’s shouts. Sees Ianto, shockingly calm. Tosh’s horror and Owen’s regret.)_

Jack doesn’t even know what year it is. The whale could have come from any time, any place on this planet. They might be here centuries after the rift opened. Even if they’re not, odds are this isn’t the same one, so why is his chest so tight?

The shadow moves on. Sunlight appears through the gap in the trees, and the tail of the creature disappears once again. It was there for a few seconds at most, but it’s enough to make Jack take a breath to push that nagging guilt away. 

“Things to do,” the Doctor says. There’s a flash of something in her eyes but it’s buried before her next words. “C’mon, gang! Places to see. You know, last time I was in this galaxy, I almost got myself executed…”

The others turn away and continue on down the path they’ve been following. It’s normal, of course, for anyone to circle around the Doctor as if they’re orbiting a star, so nobody notices when Jack stays where he is and lets them lead on without him. He’ll catch up in a minute, he thinks. 

  
  


For now, he closes his eyes. Listens to the cries that get fainter as the creature glides further away. 

It sounds a little different than it did back then.

“I’m sorry, big guy,” Jack mutters. He hopes the song is happy.

“I’m so sorry.” 

**Author's Note:**

> (let me know what you think!)


End file.
